Baku 2015: Conway upbeat despite repechage defeat

Sally Conway has vowed to bounce back quickly from her European Games exit as she chases qualification for next summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.

The London 2012 competitor was denied the chance to fight for bronze in Baku following her defeat in the repechage to Youth Olympic champion Szabina Gercsakof Hungary.

The competition doubled up as the European Championships and was high on Conway’s list of priorities this year.

But the 28-year-old knows she must refocus quickly and ensure she remains ranked highly enough to reach Rio.

“There’s still loads more competitions and more chances to get points to qualify for Rio,” said Conway.

“I’m in a good position at the moment and I just want to carry that on and do my best in whatever tournament I get given and hopefully qualify.

“I’ve never fought the Hungarian girl before, I was hoping to beat her, I believed I could, but today wasn’t my day.

“I did feel prepared and ready to go, but this is judo and these things happen. I will just take what I can for this and move on.”

In the women’s -63kg competition both Gemma Howell and Alice Schlesinger suffered defeat in the round of 16 to Mia Hermansson of Sweden and Portugal’s Ana Cachola respectively.

Megan Fletcher, fighting in the -70kg category, lost her round of 32 fight against last year’s World bronze medallist Katarzyna Klys of Poland and -81kg competitor Owen Livesey was beaten at the same stage by Portugal’s Carlos Luz.